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Karl Hochman
Karl Hochman, also once known as "The Address-Book Killer", is a dangerous serial killer and the main antagonist of the 1993 horror/sci-fi movie Ghost in the Machine (also known as Deadly Terror and Killer Machine). Karl, a technician in a computer shop, is also the "Address Book Killer," who obtains the names of his victims from stolen address books. Terry and her son Josh come into the store to price software, and a salesman uses Terry's address book to demonstrate a hand-held scanner. Karl obtains the file, and while driving to Terry's house that night in a heavy rainstorm, his car runs off the road and lands upside down in a cemetery. While Karl is undergoing a CAT scan at the hospital, a surge of lightning courses through the building, and Karl's soul is transformed into electrical energy. Karl uses the electrical grid and computer networks to continue his killing spree. He was portrayed by Ted Marcoux. Biography A serial killer, named Karl Hochman, is known as "The Address-Book Killer", due to his habit of stealing address-books and choosing his victims from them. While he's working at a computer store, he gets hold of the address-book of Terry Munroe, after another employee, demonstrating a scanner, and copies a page of her address-book into the computer. While heading home that evening, Karl is nearly killed in a collision with a truck. When he has been placed in an MRI-machine in the emergency room, a surge from an electrical storm manages to transfer his own mind into a computer. Now as a network-based entity, Karl continues to plot his killing-spree, using the electrical grid, various appliances, and computer networks. Karl opens the scanned page from Terry's address-book and begins killing the names that are on her list. Her co-worker, Frank Mallory (Richard McKenzie), becomes the first victim when he dies in an electrical fire. Another friend, Elliot Kastner (Jack Laufer) gets burned to death when a hand-dryer turns into a flame-thrower. Terry's babysitter, Carol Maibaum, becomes the third victim when she gets caught between an exploding TV-set and a dishwasher in her kitchen. When the police don't believe the theory that Karl is on a killing spree after his death, then Terry's son, Josh, realizes the order in the list of victims. Terry lets – with computer-hacker Bram Walker – anything electrical in her house get unplugged. The police receive anonymous reports of an armed robbery, hostage situation, domestic violence, and a murder in progress, all at Terry's house. The police open fire on the home after having mistaken an exploding generator for gunfire. When they realize their mistake, they cease fire. Terry's mother was shot during the siege and she goes to the hospital. Aided by Bram, Terry and Josh manage to defeat Karl by introducing a computer virus that traps him in a physics laboratory. They activate an atom smasher located in the lab, which draws Karl in and destroys him. Bram later tells Terry to turn off a heart-rate monitor in an ambulance. Category:Mature Category:Noncorporeal Category:Artificial Intelligence Category:Serial Killers Category:Movie Villains Category:Energy Beings Category:Horror Villains Category:Science Fiction Villains Category:Live Action Villains Category:Murderer Category:Trickster Category:Sadists Category:Male Category:Mutated Category:Psychopath Category:Torturer Category:Destroyers Category:Destroyer of Innocence Category:Nihilists Category:Cheater Category:Spy Category:Liars Category:One-Man Army Category:Rogues Category:Mentally Ill Category:Criminals Category:Vengeful Category:Thriller Film Villains Category:Saboteurs Category:Traitor Category:Barbarian Category:Animal Cruelty Category:Abusers Category:Failure-Intolerant Category:Pure Evil Category:Chaotic Evil Category:Perverts Category:Sadomasochists Category:Deceased Category:Damned Souls